COCA-COLA Abigail F,
Today, Coca-Cola is the top selling non-alcoholic drink. It is available in over 200 countries and 94% of the world's population recognize the red and white logo, making it the second most recognized word after “ok”. This article covers the brief history of Coca-Cola, the bottling history, the marketing of Coca-Cola, how Coca -Cola made branched out, and the characters that Coca-Cola uses or used in their advertising.
Coca-Cola History Coca-Cola started in 1886, when Dr. John Pemberton created a flavored cola syrup then he took it to his pharmacy and mixed up it with carbonated water. His librarian, Frank Mason Robinson, created the red and white logo and also named it Coca-Cola because the he thought that the two Cs looked good together. The first glass of Coca-Cola was sold for five cents per glass at the pharmacy where Dr. Pemberton first took it to, Jacob’s Pharmacy. Two years after he cre-
ated it Dr. Pemberton sold portions of it, the largest was sold to business man Asa G Candler. Under him Coca-Cola expanded to places beyond Atlanta. The Coca-Cola company kept the same formula up until April 23 1985, when Coca-Cola took possibly the biggest risk in consumer goods history, they changed their formula. But after 79 days of customer complaints and protests, they brought back the original Coca-Cola formula on July 11, 1985 and it has not changed since.
Coca-Cola Bottling
Coca-Cola Marketing
In 1894, a growing demand of CocaCola lead people to want their CocaCola in a portable bottle. The first person to put Coca-Cola in a bottle was Joseph Biedenharn when he installed a bottling machine in the back of his Mississippi soda fountain. Just five years later large scale bottling was made possible when, in 1899 three enterprising businessmen in Chattanooga, Tennessee got the exclusive right to bottle and sell Coca-Cola. These three bought the right from Asa Candler for only a dollar. The three businessmen, Benjamin Thomas, Joseph Whitehead and John Lupton, developed what became the CocaCola worldwide bottling system. Two of the biggest challenges for the early bottlers were imitations of beverages by competitors and lack of packaging among the 1,000 bottling plants. The bottlers all agreed that a unique drink needed a standard but equally unique bottle. In 1916 approved the new unique bottle. The new Coca-Cola bottle was so distinctive that it could have been recognized in pitch black dark. It effectively set the new brand apart for their competitors. The contorted bottle was trademarked in 1977. Now, the Coca-Cola bottle can be recognized almost anywhere in the world.
The earliest marketing efforts in CocaCola history where coupons promoting free beverages and a slogan that read “Drink Coca-Cola”. This was followed by newspaper ads and distribution of items that had Coca-Cola in them. It may not seem like it, but this was an innovative tactic in 1887. Fast forwarding to the 1970s when the company's advertising started to reflect a brand that is associated with fun, friends, and good times. Many people probably remember the Hilltop Singers performing “I'd Like to Buy the World a Coke” or maybe the 1979 “Have a Coke and a Smile” commercial that featured a young fan giving Pittsburgh Steeler “Mean Joe Greene” a cold bottle of Coca-Cola. The 1880s featured many slogans such as “Coke is It”, “Catch the Feeling”, “Red, White and You”, Can't Beat the Feeling”, and many more. Probably one of the most famous Coca-Cola slogans is “The Pause That Refreshes”. The slogan first appeared in the Saturday Evening Post in 1929. The theme of pausing with a cold Coca-Cola are still echoed in today's marketing. In 2009, the “Open Happiness” campaign was released globally. The central message of the “Open Happiness” campaign is to pause, refresh with a CocaCola and enjoy one of life's simple pleasures. The slogan was seen in stores, on billboards and printed was well as digital and musical components-including a single featuring Janelle Monae covering the 1980s song “Are You Getting Enough Happiness?” The theme happiness continued with the “Open the Games. Open Happiness” featured in the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver. CocaCola has had many slogans over the years and many different marketing strategies. Some of Coca-Cola’s slogans include “Ice Cold Sunshine”(1932), “What You Want is Coke”(1957), “It's The Real Thing”(1967), “Coke adds Life”(1976), “Official Soft Drink of Summer”(1989) and “The Coke Side of Life”(2006).
“Pure as Sunshine”(1927),
“Have a Coke and a Smile”(1979)
“America's Real Choice”(1985)
“Red, White & You “ (1989)
“Always Coca-Cola” (1993)
“Coca-Cola... Real” (2003)
“Make It Real”(2005)
Coca-Cola Expansion For almost 70 years, the only beverage that Coca-Cola produced and sold was the original Coke. It was not until 1955 when a bottler in Italy started selling Orange Fanta that the company decided to expand their beverage variety. From then on, Coca-Cola started adding a wider variety of beverage options and sizes for Coca-Cola customers. In 1982 Coca-Cola introduced a low-calorie option called Diet Coke and by 1986 Diet Coke become the world's top selling diet cola. In 2005, Coca-Cola introduced a no-calorie drink called Coke Zero, the drink has one of the most successful launches in Coca-Cola history. Today, Coca-Cola has over 3,500 drinks that fall into numerous categories like regular, low-and-nocalorie sodas, and fruit drinks. Coca-Cola also offers bottled water, sport and energy drinks, ready to-go teas, and coffee. These beverages and many more are available in over 200 countries across the globe. Coca-Cola is the world's top provider of nonalcoholic beverages. There are more than 3,500 drink opinions in various sizes and flavors. This article talked about the brief history of Coca-Cola, their bottling history, the marketing of Coca-Cola, how they branched out from just Coke, and the different characters Coca-Cola has used or uses in their advertising.
Citations 5 Things You Never Knew about Coca-Cola and Santa Claus. Co ca-Cola. Web. 10 Feb. 2016. <http://www.coca- colacompa ny.com/stories/coke-lore-santa-claus/>.. "A History of Coca-Cola Advertising Slogans." The Coca-Cola Company. Web. 22 Feb. 2016. <http://www.coca- colacompa ny.com/stories/coke-lore-slogans/>. "Coca-Cola History │ World of Coca-Cola." World of Coca-Cola. Web. 19 Feb. 2016. <https://www.worldofcoca-cola.com/aboutus/coca-cola->. "Coca-Cola Beverages & Products │ World of Coca-Cola." World of Coca-Cola. Web. 19 Feb. 2016. <https://www.worldofcocacola.com/about-us/coca-cola-beverages-products/>. "Nutritional Information and Ingredients for Coca-Cola | Coca-Cola GB." Nutritional Information and Ingredients for Coca-Cola | Coca-Cola GB. Web. 10 Feb. 2016.< http://www.coca-cola.co.uk/drinks/coca-cola/coca-cola/#>. "Who Was the Coca-Cola Sprite Boy? (It’s Not Who You Think)." Coca-Cola Company. Web. 19 Feb. 2016. <http://www.cocacolacompany.com/stories/coke-lore-sprite-boy/>.
Coca-Cola Icons Coca-Cola has had a very big impact on the world's culture. Coca-Cola was created three iconic character that most people recognize across the world. One icon that Coca-Cola reinvented is most recognizable during the holidays: Santa Claus. Up until 1933, Santa was everything from a tall gaunt man to a really spooky looking elf. But soon Coca-Cola started running ads during the holidays that featured a Santa that people recognize today. Another character that Coca-Cola has created is an elf like cartoon named Sprite Boy. Sprite Boy was made before the drink called Sprite. He was created because people started calling Coca-Cola Coke, the company was first discourage its use, however, in 1941, the company accepted it and began to connect the Coca-Cola name with the shortened version Coke. Sprite Boy was created to connect the two. He appeared with devilish smile often with stars around him that represented his bubbly personality and the bubbles in Coke, and often wore two hats; a bottle cap and a soda jerk’s that represented the two sides of Coke. When he appeared in advertisements he had just a head and two arms, and never a body. One of the most iconic images of Coca-Cola are probably the Polar Bears. They began first in 1922, when they started appeared in print ads and the over the next 70 years they sporadically appeared in print. It was not until 1993, when CocaCola started experimenting with computer animation and launched the “Always Coca-Cola” campaign that featured the polar bears. The idea for the polar bears started when creator Stewart was asked to develop an innovative commercial for CocaCola. While he has trying to think of an idea for the company's commercial, he saw his Labrador Retriever and thought about how much the dog looked like a polar bear. Then, he started thinking about polar bears and how they would go to the movie, this gave him the idea for the Northern Lights. In the commercial the polar bears watch the aurora borealis (“the movie”) and drink from bottles of Coke.